Statement-delivery apparatus for meters.



R. W. GALLAGHER. STATEMENT DELIVERY APPARATUS EUR METERS.

APPLIUATION FILED NOV. 20, 1907.

B.. W. GALLAGHER. STATEMENT DELTVEEY APPARATUS EOE METERS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 20, 1907.

Patented June 8, 1909. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

ATTORNEY.

UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEI'oE.

RICHARD W. GALLAGHER, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, ASISIGNOR TO AUTOMATICBILLING COMPANY, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, A CORPORATION' OFCALIFORNIA.

BTATEHET-DELIVERY APPARATUS FOR `KE'IIERB.

Speccation o! Letters Patent. application med November so, 1007. seanNo. 402,952.l

Patented June v8, 190.9.

Angeles and State of California, .have in! vented new and usefulImprovements in Statement-Delivery Apparatus for Meters, of which thefollowing 1s a specification.

This inventionrelates to apparatus for deliveringstatements from meters,such as as meters, electric meters, or the like, the ob]ect of theinvention being to provide an apparatus by means of which a com letestatement, in duplicate, in triplicate or 1n greater number if desiredmay be obtained at any time of the amount of gas, electricity or othermeasured-(commodity consumed and also of the cost to the consumer ofsaid commodity; and which will present such a statement of the costaswell as the amount whatever may be the price at which the commodity ischarged,

For the sake of illustration, I have herein shown the apparatus as usedin connection with a gas'meter, but it is to be understood that myapparatus can be used equally well with other meters such as electricmeters, taximeters, or any other meters which automatically measure themagnitude of the service rendered.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a gasmeter having my device attached thereto; Fig. 2 is an enlargedperspective view of. a portion of a statement used with said device;Fig. 3 is a broken longitudinal sectional view of a feed roller andmechanism for advancing the same; Fig. 4 is a transverse section of theline 4-'-4 of Fig. 3, looking to the left; Fig. 5 is a transversesection of the line 5 5 of Fig. 3, looking to the left; Fig. 6 is asectional view of the washer; Fig. 7l is a similar view of the ratchetdisk; Fig. 8 is a similar view of the cylinder disk, detached; Fig. 9 isa detail section through the shaft of the feed roller; Fig. 10 is a sideview of the fixed disk carrying the dogs; Fig. 11 is a perspective Viewof one of said dogs detached; Fig. 12 is a side view of the ratchetcylinder; Fig. 13 is a side View of the apparatus detached, an endcasing being removed; Fig. 14 is a broken front view of the same; Fig.15 is an enlarged vertical transverse section on the line 15-15 of Fig.14; Fig. 16 is an enlarged broken longitudinal section of the line164-16 of Fig. l5.

- In the accompanying drawing, l-indicates the casing of a gas meter,having the usual series of indicating dials 2, and train of gearing lforactuating said dials, driven by a shaftA 3, (Figs. 1, 13) in the usualmanner from the meter mechanism 4. Said train comprises a gear wheel 5with which meshes a gear wheel 6v onl a shaft 7, (Figs. 13, 14) uponwhich is also secured a bevel ear 8, which meshes with a bevel gear 9oosely rotating on a fixed shaft 10. The shaft 7 rotates in bearings inbrackets 11, 12, the bracket 11 being extended as shown at 13, to carry,fixed therein, one end of the shaft 10. The other end of said shaft 10is fixed in a side plate 14 (Fig. 3) secured'within the casing 15,(Figs. 14, 16) of the delivery mechanism. Upon said shaft 10 is alsorotatably mounted a diskl having a crown flange 31 (Figs. 8, 12) securedby crimping to a cylinder 17, (Fig. 12) the smooth end of 'which abutsagainst the rear side of the bevel gear 9, (Fig. 3) while the other endis formed with ratchet teeth thus forming a ratchet wheel 18 at saidend.

The following means are provided whereby, from a continuous movement ofthe bevel gear 9, imparted thereto by the meter, an in- I termittentmovement is imparted to said wheel 18. The bevel gear 9 1s formed at itsrear side with a concentric circular flange 19, (Fi s. 3, 5) formed withfive internal cam surfgaces 20, and to said flange 19 is attached theinner end of a coiled spring 21, its outer Vend being attached to thecylinder 17. To prevent the continuous rotation of the ratchet wheel 18with the bevel gear 9, the crown flange of the disk 16 is formed, on theinside of the cylinder 17, with five equi-distant lugs 22, (Figs. 4,8,). Between these. lugs and the flange 19 is interposed a washer 23,which retains in place the spring 21.. These lugs 22 are adapted to beenoaged by the ends of two alternately acting dogs 24 which slide inundercut radial grooves 25 formed diametrically in a disk 26 fixed uponthe shaft 10. Since these dogs are diametrically opposite to each other,it results that when the end of one dog engages a lug 22, the end of theother dog 1s disengaged between two other ofsaid lugs. It is by reasonof the engagement of one or the other of said dogs with one of saidlugs, that the ratchet wheel 18 is normally prevented from rotating withthe gear 9. In order to insure such engagement each dog has a laterallyextending pin 27, (Figs. 3, 10) passin through alradial slot 2.8 formedin tie dis 26, the proJectmg -endof which pin 27 is engaged by a smallspring 29 to project the dog 24 radially o utward. But each dog has alsoa p1n 30 whlch extends from its other side through the eentral hole ofthe washer 23, (Fig. 3) and into the inside of the cam liange 19, itsprojecting end being thus, by means of its spring 29, pressed againstthe inner or cam surface 20 of said fiange. Therefore, as the bevelgearV 9- rotates, one of said cam surfaces 20 gradually presses thecorresponding pin 30 inward,

until the outerend of its dog is completely withdrawn from the lug 22engaged thereby, whereupon the ratchet wheel 18 is free to rotate, whichit immediately does under the action of the coiled spring 21 which hasbeen wound up by the rotation of the bevel gear 9. The other one of thepair of dogs 24 which was heretofore free between two lugs 22 nowengages one of said lugs, so that the ratchet wheel 18 is againarrested, after it has made only one-tenth of a revolution.

1t may be here stated that the number of lugs 22 and also of camsurfaces 2O is not necessarily live each', but may be any other numberdesired, according to the distance that it is required to move theratchet wheel 18 at one movement, which is determined by an advance tobe given to the statement sheets through a distance indicated on thepaper corresponding to the consumption of 100 feet of gas as measured bythe meter, or correspondingly for other than gas meters.

The ratchet wheel 18 engages a crown ratchet wheel 32, (Fig. 7) whichhas a sleeve 33 rotating on the fixed shaft and cut away at 34 to form atooth and notch engaging a similar notch and tooth 35 (Figs. 3, 9) onthe hub 36 of the end 37 of the feed roller 38, so that said roller andthe ratchet wheel 32 always rotate in unison. Between the ratchet wheel32 and said end 37 is a coiled spring 39, which normally holds theratchet wheel 32 in engagement with the ratchet wheel 18. Said feedroller 38 is formed at each end with a circular series of pins 40, whichare adapted to enter holes 41 previously perforated in the margins ofstatement sheets 42, of which there may be any desired number, threebeing here shown.'

By transverse lines of perforations, partly shown at 43, (Fig. 2,) eachstatement sheet is divided into sections, each containing a I singlestatement, and said sheets are wound on supply rollers 44, the ends ofwhich are removably mounted in bearings 45 formed l in side plates 14and 46. Above the feed l roller 38 is mounted a guide 47 (Fig. 15) gwhich insures the engagement of the feed holes 41 in the statementsheets with the i pins 40 on lthe'feed roller. After leaving] said feedroller, said statement sheets pass ithrough ahorizontal slot 49 formedbetween a die 50 and a punch guide 5l, through which latter can movevertical punch pins 52, actuated as hereinafter described. They thenpass over the upper edge of a plate 53, hinged to the delivery casing atthe bottom,

as shown at 54, which plate normally covers said supply rollers. Theinnermost of these sheets then passes down over said plate, to beretained in the casing, while the upper o1' outer sheets pass over ashelf 56 and through a slot57 formed in an inner cover 58. In front ofsaid inner cover is an outer cover 60, both of said covers being hingedat the bottom to the casing. rlhe outer cover has, extending inwardlyfrom one of its edges, an arm 6l, (Figs. 1, 13) which asses through a.recess 62 formed in the e ge of the inner cover, and is adapted toengage the under side of an arm 63 extending from a rock shaft 64, saidarm 63 being depressed bya spring 65. Upon said rock shaft is an arm 66(Figs. 14, 15,' 16) which extends outward, and has attached to its end ablock 67 to which are secured the punch pins 52, said block beinglimited in its downward movement by stops 68. Therefore the opening ofthe outer cover 60 immediately causes the pins 52 to nieve upward topunch holes 69 (Fig. 2) in the statement sheets, which holes 69 indicatethe extent towhich the sheets had been at that time advanced.1mmediately thereafter arms 70, extending inward'from the inner side ofsaid outer cover through suitable holes 72 of the inner cover 58, areWithdrawn from below the ends of a stop bar 73 (Figs. 15, 16) depressedby a bow spring 74, and the outer ends of which are guided in bearings75, which stop bar carries downwardly extending stop pins 76. When theouter cover is opened these stop pins drop upon the statement sheets,the result being, that, when the said statement sheets are thenwithdrawn by hand, they can pass under said pins until the inner ends ofthe outer or first sections thereof arrive at said pins, whereupon saidpins, assisted by the spring 74, drop through certain of the holes 43,(Fig. 2) dividing each first section from the remainder of the sections,and into holes 78 in the shelf 56, shown in dotted lines in Fig. 16, sothat the parts of the statement sheets following the first sections areeffectually arrested, and then said outer or first sections, if force isstill applied thereto, are torn off from the remainder.

When the outer door is again closed, the punch pins punch holes 77 (Fig.2) in the statement sheets, which holes'7 7 should then be in the partsof said sheets indicating that there has been no consumption of gas orother commodity, and the presence and pol IVhen the bill collectorwithdraws all except the lowermostsheet by hand, the movement of saidsheets rotates the feed roller 38, which therefore advancesalso thelowermost sheet, which still remains in the casing. Although the ratchetwheel 18 is prevented rotating by reason of the engagement of one of thelugs 22 with one of the dogs 23, yet this does not prevent this movemeutof the feed roller by hand for the teeth of the ratchet wheel 32 slippast the teeth ot' the ratchet wheel 18, slightly compressing the coiledspring 39.

When the first sections of the sheets have been torn from the remainder,as described, the coiled spring 39 immediately causes the ratchet wheels32 and 18 t re'ngave each other, and, upon closing the door, the .pins7G are withdrawn from the statement sheets so that they can againadvance intermittently with the motion of the meter. This intermittentadvance is an important feature of the invention. Although the metermechanism may be continuously actuated by the passage of gas, or thesupply of othercommodity, no motion is imparted to the feed roller untilthe meter mechanism has been operated to an extent corresponding to thesupply of one of a series of predetermined quantities of the commodity,as, for instance, in the case of' gas, until the amount of gas suppliedhas reachedan exact number of hundreds of cubic feet, and similarprovision can be made for the supi ply of electricity, transportation,or the like. The importance of this arrangement is due to the necessitythat the holes punched in the statement sheets may always have acorresponding or similar relative location to some one of the crosslines of the statement sheet indicating the amount and cost ofconsumption. On the one hand these holes must `be suiiciently large tobe easily discernible, and, on the other hand,

the 'space between two such successive indicating lines of the statementsheets is necessarily limited, in order to keep the size of eachstatement within reasonable limits. If then the feed roller movedcontinuously in unison with the meter mechanism, it would often happenthat the punched holes would be on or about the dividing partv betweencross lines indicating two different amounts. This would lead touncertainty and disputes astothe charge to be collected. At the sametime, just as at present in the case of making out bills for gas, thefraction of one hundred cubic feet which was left over and not chargedfor in' one statement would be added to the amount consumed before thenext statement was rendered, and would therefore be included in the nextstatement.

I claim l. In a statement delivery mechanism for meters, the combinationof mechanism adapted to measure a commodity and continuously deliver asupply thereof' for immediate consumption. a support for a roll ofpaper, permitting the outer end of said roll to be free and detachable,means for advancing the outer or front end of the roll of paper on saidsupport, and an operative connectionv between -said mechanism andadvancing means, whereby the operation ofthe latter is proportionatelycontrolled by the movement of the former, said connection permitting theadvancing means to operate to permit the paper to advance independentlyof said mechanism, substantiall as described.

2. In' a statement delivery mechanism for meters, the combination ofmechanism adapted to measure a commodity and continuously deliver asupply thereof for immediate consumption, a support for a roll of paper,permitting the outer end of said roll to be free and detachable, meansfor advancing the outer or front end of the roll of paper on saidsupport, and an operative connection between said mechanism andadvancing means, for proportionately operating the latter by themovement of the former, said connection permitting the advancing meansto operate to permit the paper to advance independently of the movementof said mechanism, substantially as described.

3. In a statement delivery mechanism for meters, the combination ofmechanism adapted to measure a commodit and continuously deliver asupply thereof or immediate consumption, a support for a roll of paper,permitting the outer end of said roll to be free and detachable, meansfor advancing the outer or front end of the roll of paper on saidsupport, and an operative connection between said mechanism andadvancing means, whereby the operation of the latter is pro ortionatelycontrolled by the movement o the former, means for voluntarily markinselectively as to time, the paper at a uni orm point in its path,whereby said mark indicates the amount of advance at said time, andmeans for normally holding said marking means out of operation,substantially as described.

l. In a statement delivery mechanism for meters, the combination ofmechanism adapted to measure a commodity and continuously deliver asupply thereof for immediate consumption, a support for a roll of paper,permitting the outer end of said roll to be free and detachable, meansfor advancing the outer or front end of the roll of paper on saidsupport, and an operative connection between said mechanism andadvancing means, whereby the operation of the latter is proportionatelycontrolled by tue movement of the former, means for voluntarily markingselectively as to time, the paper at a uniform point in its path,whereby said mark indicates the amount of advance at said time,

paper having thereon port for said roller, means, controlled by 1' themovement of the meter, the free end of said paper through one su foradvancing v space at a time, and means for marking said paper at will ata xed .point in its path,

substantially as described.

In testimony whereof 'I have hereunto set v my hand in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses.

RICHARD W. GALLAGHER.

Witnesses:

FRANCIS M. WRIGHT, D. B. RICHARDS.

